The Mercedes-Benz R-Class

     A few months back sometime in October this year, Mercedes-Benz launched their R-Class in India. There were a few reports here and there but soon the media frenzy died out and the car went into the magazine's last page car listings. So you might be wondering now, what is the point of this article!

     Well you might have noticed from the images, that this car as no ordinary Merc sedan but a pretty huge MPV. If you are unknown to the term MPV, it stands for Multi-Purpose-Vehicle. Innova and Xylo fall under this category. But this isn't your ordinary people carrier; it's an ultra luxury vehicle which costs almost Rs. 60 lakhs. So this costs a bit more than your average luxury sedans like E-Class and almost comes in the X5 like luxury SUV range.


   The people, who spend this kind of moolah, go with either luxury sedans or luxury SUVs that I have mentioned above. Keeping this in mind let's face the facts. The guy that is spending this much, is almost all of the times a family man, with a nice business or something of that sort. The sedan would give him 5 super comfy seats and a decent boot. If he craves for more space, he can go for the SUV. But that would also mean that he would be shelling out an extra premium for the off-road abilities of the SUV. And it is well known fact that these premium SUVs rarely and almost never get to see the muck and mud of a hardcore off-road track.


   This is where I feel the R-Class hits the sweet spot. It has proper 7 seats, more than ample space and is expected to be at least as if not more comfy than the regular E-Class. It is not as bulky as the SUV, thus manoeuvring in the city traffic wouldn't be a headache. But a corporate head honcho would prefer the subtle looks of a sedan or a menacing SUV, to what basically is a minivan; but I feel this car has a certain cool-factor to it. It is a kind of a niche product. The only downside I see to this amazingly practical vehicle is that despite having a marvellous petrol V6 that gives up to 13kmpl with the help of fuel saving 'blue-efficiency' tech, these segments deserve and rather thrive on diesels. If Merc could get one of their beautiful diesel engines and manages to assemble the car locally, this would further sweeten the deal. This car at around Rs. 40-50 Lakhs would just be sinful!
                          
- Gaurav Singh